As announced back in March, today will be the last day that Classic-Horror.com updates. After today, the site will remain online as an archive. It is also the site's thirteenth birthday. Classic horror has been part of me longer than that, though -- far, far longer.

There's
a young boy in Iowa in 1991 whose parents just bought him The Cabinet
of Dr. Caligari and Nosferatu for Christmas, because that's all he
really wanted. His mother had introduced him to horror films earlier
that year and now the boy is obsessed with all things monstrous. He has a
plethora of Universal classics on tape because his best friend's dad
(who has cable) taped AMC's Monsterfest for him. He writes a fan letter
to Vincent Price and hopes to meet him someday. (read more...)

As the site draws to a close, I thought I would try to put into video form some kind of final farewell. I've worked on this on and off for the last three years (starting in 2009 when I thought I might shut down the site then). The video is kind of hodge-podge of clips from over 200 horror sources, set to The Who's The Song is Over. I think the song reflects some of my feelings about the site and the horror genre in general.

No notes this time. I think I've said everything I need to say in my farewell post.

Genre is cumulative. Successful elements of one film are picked up,
refined, and tweaked by the next. Sometimes the result is an
improvement or even an advancement, other times it is imitation or
homage. In many cases, a film will combine the perceived successes of
its predecessors, synthesizing them into something familiar but new.
These are the places where genre evolves. Take the case of The
Vampire Bat, which borrows two of the stars of Doctor X and Mystery
of the Wax Museum, but more importantly, it carries forward some of
the themes and genre trappings of Universal's 1931 horror hits,
Dracula and Frankenstein. In doing so, the film shows some innovation
of its own, resulting in an entertaining, if occasionally slipshod
film.(read more...)

The world truly has lost one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. Ray Bradbury, well known science fiction author among thousands of fans, died on June 5th, 2012 after a lengthy illness.

Bradbury is most well known for sci-fi novels like Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles. He was also known for dipping his toes in the fantasy and horror genre, with such novels like Something Wicked This Way Comes. He wrote several upon several short stories, 27 of them being adapted for EC Comics.(read more...)

Audition is a devious film, the
kind that draws you in with well-developed characters and a
patiently-paced plot but that eventually begins hitting you
unapologetically with scenes of horror before finally bludgeoning you
at its climax. Made by Takashi Miike, a master of inserting obscene
levels of violence into well-measured stories, this is a film that
builds up to an explosive finale that is virtually impossible to be
perfectly unspoiled (assuming the viewer looks at the DVD packaging
or poster art before watching the film) but nevertheless hits with
such unexpected force that it can leave you sick. Aside from simply
setting you up for a punch in the gut, however, Audition also
quietly illustrates the extent of our acceptance of male dominance in
society.
(read more...)

The following is what would have been the first entry in an ongoing column about video games. However, since the site will no longer be updating after June 15th, only one entry was produced. We hope you enjoy!

Way
back in 1999 when Silent
Hill was
released for the Playstation, videogaming was in the middle of a
massive image shift. With the arrival and success of the Playstation
in 1996 gaming was becoming mainstream and cool. It was no longer
considered the past time of pasty kids with no friends or the
hopelessly nerdy. Advances in technology enabled developers to add a
cinematic sheen to their games for the first time and titles like
Gran
Turismo,
Resident
Evil and
Metal Gear
Solid were
leading the pack in this new cinematic approach. Even Hollywood was
getting in on this blossoming medium, with the likes of Bruce Willis
lending his likeness and voice to generic shoot em up Apocalypse.
And in the midst of all this came Silent
Hill.
Initially seen as a rival to flagship horror franchise Resident
Evil, it
went on to become a big success in its own right and the years since
have seen numerous sequels, spin-offs, merchandising, films and even
a remake. The series even has its own iconic bogeyman in the hulking
shape of Pyramid Head. But it all started with the first game, a
relentless, nerve shredding nightmare.

Chances
are if you've heard of They Live, it is for one of two reasons.
One, you've heard the line that launched a million t-shirts: "I
have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I'm all out of
bubblegum." Or two: You've seen the prolonged alleyway fight
scene between Roddy Piper and Keith David on YouTube (or the
fantastic South Park parody of it). But if you've never seen the
film itself those two things might give you the impression that it's
just another cheesy action flick from the eighties, but in keeping
with the theme of the film, appearances can be deceiving. Lying
underneath the surface of this sci-fi/action flick is a film howling
in fury against mindless greed and corruption.(read more...)

The Descent could be seen as a
textbook guide to instilling horror in viewers. However, to view
this film in such a way would be to consider it a mere genre exercise
when instead it is a jarring metaphor for the pain of exploring our
darkest thoughts. The horror here, which is accomplished as
perfectly as it likely could have been, does not exist solely to
frighten but to evoke the terror of such a journey into the
subconscious. Specifically, the film follows one character's
descent into an unexplored cave system, which almost inherently
becomes a metaphorical descent into the unexplored recesses of her
own mind. The Descent is merciless, but more importantly, it
never falters from its attempt to tell the story of a character's
confrontation of the hidden aspects of her psychology.
(read more...)

Carnivals.
Carnivals filled with clowns and cotton candy, merry go rounds and
barkers, game booths and freakish sideshow oddities. What is their
appeal? Why are we so afraid of these malevolent and dark settings,
but are so attracted to them at the same time? What is it about their
colorful and bright atmospheres that make them so inviting and
enjoyable, but yet so bizarre and arcane? This is part of why
carnivals make the perfect setting for any great horror movie,
because they capture exactly just what we love about them: being
frightened and having fun at the same time. Director Tobe Hooper, who
shocked us all with The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, understood
this well, and utilizes this place of charm and fear to his
advantage, creating a creepy and menacing cinematic experience that
is The Funhouse.(read more...)

I will always remember April 14th, 2012 as probably the saddest day for any horror fan. It makes me so depressed to report on not only two deaths that happened in the same week, but on the same day too, and of very talented actors at that. The great Jonathan Frid, who was immortalized on television as Barnabas Collins in the daytime gothic soap opera Dark Shadows, died last Saturday at age 87 of natural causes.(read more...)